Thursday, May 7, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
THEATRE-SIERRA LEONE: Colonial-Era Play Sparks Controversy
Lansana Fofana
- A locally-written play, which relates the story of a traditional ruler who mobilised his people not to pay a ‘hut tax’ to British colonial authorities in the 19th century has stirred up a political dust storm.
The author and director, Abu Noah, says chief Bai Bureh, who inspired the popular play, ‘Bai Bureh Goes To War’, was one of the earliest fighters of the freedom for Africans to govern themselves.
He rejected the widespread views by European historians that the traditional ruler was “an early example of the African’s refusal to obey authority”.
Bai Bureh’s and the colonial troops locked horns in the northern Sierra Leonean chiefdom of Kasseh in 1898.
The play, which is performed by the Mount Everest Cultural Company, has been showing to theatre-goers at the British Council, City Hall and other theatres across the Sierra Leonean capital of Freetown.
The play retells the legend of Bai Bureh and re-examines the historical events which led to the Hut Tax War. It depicts how Bai Bureh won over the might of the gun through the powers of his ancestors and sorcery. Starring a cast of 80, the production is peppered with traditional dancing, singing and drumming – plus a dash of idolatory, magic and ritual murder.
But, even though the non-African watchers of the play, generally describe it as “an eye-opener to early African customs and values”, Noah’s crtics have drawn a bead on the playwright, who they dismiss as “selling out Africa’s outdated and barbaric dark side.”
“A better title for the play should have been ‘Bai Bureh Sacrifices A Virgin’ because it merely depicts Noah’s crude love of human sacrifice, cannibalism and sorcery, when our country today needs modernity and development,” sniffed Mohamed Sasay, an arts critic from Freetown.
Another critic, Joseph Cole, dismissed the play as “amateurish, primitive and out of tune with contemporary reality.”
Cole takes on Noah for re-creating “the Africa’s dark past and informing his western audience that human sacrifices, idolatory and cannibalism are aspects of our culture of which we should be proud. Our recent history is one of calamity, terror and uncontrolled killing of innocent people (in Sierra Leone), so depicting that on stage, clearly shows that we have not learnt from the cruelty of the ousted military junta and the nation’s great loss.”
The contentious scene of the play is Act Three, which is climaxed by the sacrifice of a virgin girl, on the dictates of the gods, through their oracle. The killing of the innocent girl is aimed at guaranteeing victory in the war against the colonial troops.
An uncomfortable parallel occurred in latter-day Sierra Leone between 1977 and Feb 1998 when the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) junta held power. People suffered incr4edible cruelty before the army/rebel regime was overthrown by the Nigerian-led West African peacekeeping force “ECOMOG.”
Perceived opponents of the regime were either kept in incommunicado detention and tortured, or were shot in broad daylight, and their body parts mutilated and displayed at street intersections.
“Do we want to tell the world that we have been steeped in this barbarity since pre-colonial days? Noah’s human sacrifice scene is repugnant,” says Janet Bayoh, an artist and critic in Freetown.
Non-African audience, however, sees the play differently. “I have learned a great deal about your traditions and customs. It is truly a ‘tour de force’,” commented British High Commisioner Peter Penifold who was made an honorary chief by the Temne ethnic group (from which Bai Bureh hails).
UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) country director in Sierra Leone, Elizabeth Luanga, said she “enjoyed the play very much. It shows the culture of Sierra Leone and teaches one about the values of family life.”
Noah’s English-born wife, Michaela, who helped her husband produce the play, rejected accusations that she was undermining Sierra Leone’s cultural heritage, by collaborating with “an unseasoned playright and intruder” thereby painting a wrong picture of Africa.
“I believe it is time to address the negative perceptions of those who are endeavouring to distort what is a perfect demonstration of the beauty, diversity, richness and values of a civilised culture,” she argues.
Noah agreed. “Sierra Leoneans are always ready to pull down someone who endeavours to make developmental strides,” he said.
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THEATRE-SIERRA LEONE: Colonial-Era Play Sparks Controversy
Lansana Fofana
- A locally-written play, which relates the story of a traditional ruler who mobilised his people not to pay a ‘hut tax’ to British colonial authorities in the 19th century has stirred up a political dust storm.
(more…)
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